


Can't Fight the Feeling

by chacusha



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff Bingo Quarter 2, Post-Bravely Second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-30 02:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19033054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chacusha/pseuds/chacusha
Summary: It's been five years and Edea doesn't know if she can keep her feelings bottled up anymore.





	Can't Fight the Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fluff Bingo (2019 Q2). I was given the prompt of Can't Fight the Feeling with Oblee. I used [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpOULjyy-n8) as inspiration. I wanted to do something with an older Edea and Agnès, but then didn't really know how to make it work, so just settled on them being 26 and 28.

They'd been friends for all of Edea's adult life. They'd started out as enemies. But meeting Agnès had changed the course of Edea's life. From that moment on, they'd been comrades, at first not even sure whether they could trust each other, but before they knew it, they'd become friends. Real friends -- late nights sharing stories, swapping clothes, trading jokes. And then they drifted apart. Not emotionally -- whenever they were together, the two of them picked up exactly where they had left off. Rather, their distance was mainly physical: Edea was busy in Eternia and Agnès was occupied by all of her duties as the new Crystalist leader, which kept her traveling around the world. Their work rebuilding Luxendarc often brought them together again, but most of the time they led their own independent lives.

The whole mess with Kaiser Oblivion and his empire and Providence had been a temporary hiccup in the rhythm of their new lives, one where Edea had spent weeks chasing after Agnès, talking to the pope whenever it was safe to speak through the pendant. But now that all that was over, it was back to the old routine again. Well, one minor thing had changed: now Edea kept a shard of Agnès's pendant with her -- it felt odd to have it, but Agnès had insisted that various people be entrusted with them in case something like the Glanz Empire ever happened again. In theory, she and Agnès could use it to have a conversation at any time, but in practice, Edea and Agnès were both busier than ever with heavy responsibilities resting on their shoulders.

Perhaps the only real change resulting from that particular adventure was that it had made Edea aware of something she hadn't realized before -- fighting for Agnès was always something that made her feel sure of herself. It had been that way when they first met, and it had been that way again when fighting to rescue her from the empire. All Edea's doubts flew out the window and she always knew exactly what she had to do. It wasn't simple adrenaline -- somehow, Agnès just had the effect of clarifying the world. Flying to her side just felt... right.

Spending time apart from Agnès -- except for the occasional reunion, or meeting up when Agnès was in Gathelatio, technically her office but one she didn't occupy frequently -- didn't feel right. At first Edea had thought her unease was just a manifestation of stress from her grand marshal duties and her desire to escape them, but then she realized she actually _enjoyed_ her grand marshal work. It was only the thought that being apart from Agnès was going to be the new normal which bothered her. It had been five years since Providence had been defeated. Was it going to be like this forever...? 

Suddenly, the pendant shard Edea kept on her desk started glowing. When the light faded, she could see the pope's image in the tiny stone. "A-Agnès!"

"Edea?" Agnès smiled. "How good to see you. How are you doing?"

"I'm... I'm good. What's up with you? Why did you call me?"

"Oh?" the pope asked. "I thought you called me."

"Huh?" Edea cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Maybe I did." How to operate the pendant shard had always been unclear to her. It wouldn't exactly be odd if she had somehow activated it by accident.

"So you do not have anything you wished to speak to me about?"

"Well, I --" Quite the opposite, there was so _much_ Edea had to say -- where to even start? She was afraid no matter where she started, so many unspoken feelings would come pouring out in a jumbled mess.

At Edea's tongue-tied silence, Agnès chuckled. "Then perhaps it _was_ I who opened the connection," she said. "The truth is..." There was a pause and a deep breath. "I have been thinking... I want to retire from being a leader of the Crystal Orthodoxy. What do you think?"

The whirlwind of emotions Edea was feeling became yet more chaotic. Excitement was her first response, a burning desire to invite Agnès to live in Eternia was the second, followed by a feeling of guilt as to whether it was right to be so happy for such a big change in Agnès's life, worry that she was being selfish, and concern about whether such a decision was really wise. Edea managed to say, "That sounds -- great! But are you sure? That seems like such a big decision... Have you thought it through...?"

"I have," Agnès said. "For a long time, I have thought that the world doesn't need a Crystal Orthodoxy. And while there is still work needed to improve the world, I do not have to be the one to lead those efforts. Perhaps it is time for me to step down and leave that work to others."

"If you think that's right," Edea said. "You know you always have a home in Eternia. If you want a place to settle down..."

Agnès in the pendant smiled. "That would be nice."

Edea swallowed, her throat tight. Why was she so scared to say what was in her heart? Especially when being around Agnès usually gave her so much courage. But afraid or no, her feelings could not be denied. "The truth is," Edea blurted out, "I was just thinking about you when the pendant activated. I wanted to talk to you, Agnès. I miss you." They'd been friends for eight years, most of which had been spent apart. But what had started out as friendship had grown into something else, something more needy and insistent. Distance didn't seem to make a difference -- if anything, it made the feelings stronger.

"I was feeling the same way." A small glimmer shone in the depths of the pendant shard. Was it the stone catching light? Or a tear...? "Just hearing your voice, it feels like returning home after having been at sea for months. I do not want to... I do not think I can spend my life always out at sea." Agnès took a deep breath. Now that she had made up her mind to resign, she had dozens of pressing things to take care of. But she promised Edea that they would see each other in person again as soon as they could.

It was hard to be patient -- Edea was tempted to drop everything and find Agnès, wherever she currently was, or if not that, talk to her for hours through the pendant. But those things could wait. It was enough to know that they would see each other soon. Then Edea could speak the feelings that lay in her heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking fluff requests [here](https://chacusha.tumblr.com/post/185198408001/fluff-bingo-taking-prompts) for the next 24 hours. Please request something and help me get a bingo. @_@


End file.
